How and What We Grow
How we grow
At ABLE we grow organically (in that we don’t add pesticides or chemical based fertilizers) on a rich soil derived from composted sludges provided by Yorkshire Water. The sludges are a fantastic source of nutrients for plants and when composted properly and used appropriately pose no risk to human or animal health. This practise has enabled what was a brown fields, bare earth and rubble site only 5 years ago to transform into a hub for wildlife: Huge numbers of birds, insects, reptiles and mammals are spotted on site throughout the year and increasing all the time.
Yorkshire Bounty
People in Yorkshire used to be able to purchase 'Yorkshire Bounty' from the water companies for the above reasons, however in recent times it has fallen out of favour due to individual incidences of bad practise. Here at ABLE we are very proud to be making good use of this material once again and diverting thousands of tons of sludges from incinerators and landfill each year!
Aquaponics
We are also trialling the use of aquaponics to grow certain crops in closed loop systems. We float plants on mats to help us clean and filter the water coming from the fish tanks, they absorb the nutrients provided by the fish waste so they can grow successfully in water.
What we grow
Our allotments produce all year. Winter vegetables make way for spring cabbage which in turn gives way to beans, broccoli, potatoes and sweetcorn, before the year is seen off with pumpkins, parsnips, sprouts and leeks heralding the arrival of winter.
We are able to grow heat loving plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers inside our greenhouses and herbs and watercress in the aquaponics systems alongside the fish.
We offer veggie boxes from the site office and provbide wholesale veg to the Hungry Snail cooperative in Wakefield
Willow coppice
It is a long standing ambition of the ABLE project to be self sufficient for our winter fuel needs. Temperature maintenance in winter is vital for our fish and we use a biomass boiler to convert woodchip into heat in the furnace. We still rely on a supply of willow from other sites at the moment, but are working towards self sufficiency with our 3 year old willow plantation on site which is getting stronger every year.
